The Portland Trail Blazers’ early surge has hit a bump, but it’s the kind of bump that can tell a team a lot about itself.
After losses to the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs, Portland is sitting on a two-game skid. That snaps the buzz that came with the Blazers briefly climbing into first place in the Western Conference, but it doesn’t erase what they’ve already shown. A 6-1 start in their first seven games gave them a real jolt of optimism, and these last two results are more of a reality check than a warning sign.
That’s because the Blazers entered the season with a wide-open range of outcomes. The trade acquisition involving Ja Morant lifted the ceiling, but there were still real questions about whether a smaller lineup could hold up defensively against bigger opponents. So far, Portland has answered enough of those questions to believe this can work, even if the road ahead is still long.
And long is the key word here. This is still the opening stretch of a marathon the Blazers hope lasts at least six more months, with more than 70 games left on the regular-season schedule. Two losses over the weekend don’t change the fact that they still have plenty of time to recover ground.
The Lakers game gave Portland a real chance. The Blazers built a double-digit lead in the first half and looked poised to grab their second road win against Los Angeles this season.
Then Luka Doncic took over. He’s already playing better than anyone in the league right now, and Portland ran into him at full force.
Even then, the Blazers weren’t completely out of it late. They had a shot to steal the game, and while they came up short, there were still encouraging pieces to take from the performance. There should be enough on the film for Portland to pull out positives.
The Spurs game was a different kind of problem. If anyone is trying to challenge Doncic as the early MVP this season, it is Victor Wembanyama, who scored 29 points in just 24 minutes of action as San Antonio handled the Blazers quickly.
Portland was also dealing with the grind of the schedule. The Blazers were on the second night of a back-to-back and didn’t get back to Portland until 5 am after the loss in Los Angeles. That’s not exactly ideal preparation, and it showed.
Head coach Micah Nori wasn’t pleased with the effort against the Spurs, especially because it stood in contrast to the way the team had played in its first eight games of the season. Still, the bigger picture remains the same: the Blazers are not at the level of the top teams in the West yet, but there’s time for that to change.
That next test comes quickly. Portland’s stretch against Western Conference opponents continues with a pair of games against the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Moda Center tomorrow and Wednesday. The next game will be on NBC or streamed on Peacock.
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